Coach John Longmire - Part IV

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I'll be honest. I'd been restless about our list and our coaching for 12 months. I thought, play some kids, and develop a more free flowing game plan, who cares if we lose some games along the way.

Well the club has delivered. Whether willingly, or kicking and screaming, it doesn't matter. I wonder how much we have Tommy Harley to thank for all this.

Don Pyke looks an inspired coaching addition, and some brilliant drafting and list management.

Dean Cox looks the annointed one next in line. I think it's safe to say John Longmire is going nowhere, especially with an exciting young team like this one in 2021
 
Grongey said:
I'll be honest. I'd been restless about our list and our coaching for 12 months. I thought, play some kids, and develop a more free flowing game plan, who cares if we lose some games along the way.

Well the club has delivered. Whether willingly, or kicking and screaming, it doesn't matter. I wonder how much we have Tommy Harley to thank for all this.

Don Pyke looks an inspired coaching addition, and some brilliant drafting and list management.

Dean Cox looks the annointed one next in line. I think it's safe to say John Longmire is going nowhere, especially with an exciting young team like this one in 2021
Click to expand...
If you listen to Tom Harley interview in the media thread - him, Charlie Gardner & Horse got together early in the lockdown to talk about how they could do more & better with less. Inspired leadership across the club I feel.
 

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We wont ever know but i would love to be a fly on the wall inside the Swans HQ just to see how much the change is contributed to Longmire or Pyke.

Part of me leaves me scratching my head and frustrated why we couldn't do this in 2014-2018 with a vastly superior list its why a few were so critical of Longmire tactics at the time.

We were going goalless quarters! with one of the greatest forward to play the game at our disposal.
 
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Ticky009 said:
If you listen to Tom Harley interview in the media thread - him, Charlie Gardner & Horse got together early in the lockdown to talk about how they could do more & better with less. Inspired leadership across the club I feel.
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I think sometimes people misunderstand the roles of Harley (CEO) and Gardiner (Head of Football). If they perform their roles well Horse and the other coaches are freed up and resourced to do their best work. Getting Pyke was an absolute masterstroke for a whole raft of reasons. I don't know much about Mathews but the analysis is showing we are defending quite differently to in the past. That's his line.
Our forwards are torching defences, that's Macca's line. Our mids are more effective than they have been for some time. Hickey is a factor but not all of it. We have accelerated the change to our game style with a new coaching team and it's working very well indeed. Please don't tell me that Gardiner and Harley don't know what they're doing. The evidence proves otherwise.
 
Kiama Chris said:
I think sometimes people misunderstand the roles of Harley (CEO) and Gardiner (Head of Football). If they perform their roles well Horse and the other coaches are freed up and resourced to do their best work. Getting Pyke was an absolute masterstroke for a whole raft of reasons. I don't know much about Mathews but the analysis is showing we are defending quite differently to in the past. That's his line.
Our forwards are torching defences, that's Macca's line. Our mids are more effective than they have been for some time. Hickey is a factor but not all of it. We have accelerated the change to our game style with a new coaching team and it's working very well indeed. Please don't tell me that Gardiner and Harley don't know what they're doing. The evidence proves otherwise.
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Regardless there was a period of time we were awful the whole 0-6 the inability to kick more than 10 goals while having a Franklin in his prime to the inability to hit basic targets.

The coaching was left stagnant for to long the change that has literally transformed the side is 2-3 years overdue.
 
Heeney2Franklin said:
We wont ever know but i would love to be a fly on the wall inside the Swans HQ just to see how much the change is contributed to Longmire or Pyke.

Part of me leaves me scratching my head and frustrated why we couldn't do this in 2014-2018 with a vastly superior list its why a few were so critical of Longmire tactics at the time.
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Why we couldn't play a high-scoring, free flowing game style in 14-18? Including the years 2014 through 2016?
 
Heeney2Franklin said:
Regardless there was a period of time we were awful the whole 0-6 the inability to kick more than 10 goals while having a Franklin in his prime to the inability to hit basic targets.

The coaching was left stagnant for to long the change that has literally transformed the side is 2-3 years overdue.
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Who were the coaches, who employed them and when did their contracts end? Who else might have been available? Who was willing to come to Sydney?
I don't necessarily disagree, but it may not be that simple.
We know that Longmire started working on the current game style at least mid-2019.
 
Heeney2Franklin said:
We wont ever know but i would love to be a fly on the wall inside the Swans HQ just to see how much the change is contributed to Longmire or Pyke.

Part of me leaves me scratching my head and frustrated why we couldn't do this in 2014-2018 with a vastly superior list its why a few were so critical of Longmire tactics at the time.

We were going goalless quarters! with one of the greatest forward to play the game at our disposal.
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H+A Rankings for “Points for”

2011: 11th
2012: 5th
2013: 4th
2014: 4th
2015: 6th (Bud unwell)
2016: 4th
2017: 5th (0-7 start)
2018: 12th
2019: 12th
2020: 15th

By contrast, around the same period, Freo were

2015: 11th (1st on the ladder)
2014: 7th (4th on ladder)
2013: 12th (3rd on ladder)

Don’t let the Victorian footy media gaslight you, mate. When this team’s list has been in good shape (and when the greatest forward in a generation has been fit), we’ve been a top-4 scoring team.
 
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Horse inherited Roos' game style. It is interesting to reflect on why Lyon got the St K job ahead of Horse who was hot favourite. When he missed the Tainted job, Horse was looked after.

As an analyst and tactician Lyon is light years ahead of Horse. However I think Horse really excels in people relations when the character of such people aligns with his. To his credit I reckon 90% of players buy into the Horse schtick. Players like Mitchell, Membrey, Nank, Allir, Dawson, Stephens do not.

It took years before he recognised Grohan was a spud.

Kennedy's comments yesterday - we need great intensity and win contested ball - was a remarkable endorsement of Games 4-6. Nothing about lowering eyes, hitting targets etc (things he struggles to do).
 
Grand Uncle Horace said:
Horse inherited Roos' game style. It is interesting to reflect on why Lyon got the St K job ahead of Horse who was hot favourite. When he missed the Tainted job, Horse was looked after.

As an analyst and tactician Lyon is light years ahead of Horse. However I think Horse really excels in people relations when the character of such people aligns with his. To his credit I reckon 90% of players buy into the Horse schtick. Players like Mitchell, Membrey, Nank, Allir, Dawson, Stephens do not.

It took years before he recognised Grohan was a spud.

Kennedy's comments yesterday - we need great intensity and win contested ball - was a remarkable endorsement of Games 4-6. Nothing about lowering eyes, hitting targets etc (things he struggles to do).
Click to expand...

Horse definitely benefited from Roos tenure for sure, but it's hard to believe that he wasn't a significant part of the 2012 flag against a better team on paper, and just continued rolling along off Roos' work for the next 6 years of finals, including 2 GFs. We played some exciting, fast footy, rebounding off the backline and bursting from stoppages in that time. Admittedly I don't buy the whole 'Roos era was just a slogfest' talk, but Horse (with Dew, Blakey etc) got us blitzing teams at times. Maybe he's not a master tactician (I know I've been frustrated at the lack of imagination when things aren't going our way), but that's where surrounding himself with the likes of Don Pyke is great (it's still early days).

Mitchell and Horse didn't get along, that's reasonably clear - but while I feel Mitchell probably served too long an apprenticeship in the ressies, he was a best 22 player in the year he left, playing 19 and 26 games in his last 2 seasons with us - so even if it was being annoyed at playing 2nd fiddle to the likes of JPK, Hanners, Jack, Parker that made him leave - that's on Mitchell. Membrey, Nank left because of lack of opportunity. At the time, most would have said Naismith was looking more likely than Nank. Membrey - unpopular opinion but I feel like Goodes should have retired a few years earlier, which may have kept him around (based purely on form, though Goodes did put in some great, late finals performances). I have no idea why Dawson and Stephens (a 2nd year player, who played games in a covid interrupted year, in which ressies wasn't an option) are mentioned. Dawson took a while to break in, but don't see any signs of discontent.

Intensity was definitely a key factor against GC. We've had success in the past without being brilliant at ball use, because we've brought the heat, been disciplined and had high work rate. When you have players in support, in space because they've run hard or actually presenting good options in the F50 (or coming out of D50), it makes a big difference to ball use. That being said, I have almost no confidence with JPK's use by foot, so I kind of understand why he wouldn't single that out as an issue.
 
Grand Uncle Horace said:
Horse inherited Roos' game style. It is interesting to reflect on why Lyon got the St K job ahead of Horse who was hot favourite. When he missed the Tainted job, Horse was looked after.

As an analyst and tactician Lyon is light years ahead of Horse. However I think Horse really excels in people relations when the character of such people aligns with his. To his credit I reckon 90% of players buy into the Horse schtick. Players like Mitchell, Membrey, Nank, Allir, Dawson, Stephens do not.

It took years before he recognised Grohan was a spud.

Kennedy's comments yesterday - we need great intensity and win contested ball - was a remarkable endorsement of Games 4-6. Nothing about lowering eyes, hitting targets etc (things he struggles to do).
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?!?!
 
Regardless of what you think of his coaching, how bloody lucky have we been to have this guy represent our club over the last decade. Congrats on the 250th game as coach Horse!

www.sydneyswans.com.au

Longmire brings up 250th game milestone

John Longmire will coach his 250th AFL this weekend when Sydney faces West Coast in Round 16. Peter Blucher writes this feature on the Swans' coach ahead of his milestone.
www.sydneyswans.com.au www.sydneyswans.com.au

(and given his thread hasn't had any posts in over two months, I'd say his coaching's going pretty bloody well atm!)
 

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caesar88 said:
Regardless of what you think of his coaching, how bloody lucky have we been to have this guy represent our club over the last decade. Congrats on the 250th game as coach Horse!

www.sydneyswans.com.au

Longmire brings up 250th game milestone

John Longmire will coach his 250th AFL this weekend when Sydney faces West Coast in Round 16. Peter Blucher writes this feature on the Swans' coach ahead of his milestone.
www.sydneyswans.com.au www.sydneyswans.com.au

(and given his thread hasn't had any posts in over two months, I'd say his coaching's going pretty bloody well atm!)
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...
Among 368 AFL coaches all-time he will be just the 33rd to reach this milestone.
More significantly, he will be only the 14th person to coach 250 games in his first coaching job.
...
He has coached against 43 different coaches – most often Clarkson (22), Chris Scott (19), Cameron (16) and Hardwick (14) – for a 152-2-95 win/loss record and a 61.54% strike-rate.
...
One of his favorite times as Swans coach followed the retirement of McVeigh, Grundy, Jack and Smith, who were carried off with 300th-gamer Lance Franklin after the last game of 2019.
...

The celebrations continued post-game. “I was standing in the rooms looking around,’’ Longmire said. “And there’s LRT (Lewis Roberts-Thomson) a former player, Clementine McVeigh who is Macca’s wife, Andrew Ireland on the board and our ex-CEO. There’s Nick Smith, Hanners (ex-Swan Dan Hannebery) is in there somewhere, kids are everywhere, parents everywhere, Plugger (Tony Lockett) was there with his daughter, Josh Kennedy’s boy Emilio was running around, he’s mad but a funny bugger, there were board members through to former players … it had everything.

“We’re eating pies and drinking Crownies and it was just fantastic. I got up and grabbed the phone and went bang with the camera. It’s one of my favourite footy photos of all-time. I’ve been tossing up whether to blow it up and put it somewhere at the club, in my office. You know what it shows … it shows a footy club.’’
:hearteyes::hearteyes::hearteyes::hearteyes:
23SySK19CS691740434.JPG


Screen-Shot-2020-03-27-at-9.35.58-am.png

www.sydneyswans.com.au

Gun cartoonist pays tribute to Swans greats

An expert cartoonist has drawn a print that pays tribute to recently retired Sydney Swans greats Jarrad McVeigh, Kieren Jack, Heath Grundy and Nick Smith.
www.sydneyswans.com.au www.sydneyswans.com.au
 
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SwansProudly said:
...
Among 368 AFL coaches all-time he will be just the 33rd to reach this milestone.
More significantly, he will be only the 14th person to coach 250 games in his first coaching job.
...
He has coached against 43 different coaches – most often Clarkson (22), Chris Scott (19), Cameron (16) and Hardwick (14) – for a 152-2-95 win/loss record and a 61.54% strike-rate.
...
One of his favorite times as Swans coach followed the retirement of McVeigh, Grundy, Jack and Smith, who were carried off with 300th-gamer Lance Franklin after the last game of 2019.
...
The celebrations continued post-game. “I was standing in the rooms looking around,’’ Longmire said. “And there’s LRT (Lewis Roberts-Thomson) a former player, Clementine McVeigh who is Macca’s wife, Andrew Ireland on the board and our ex-CEO. There’s Nick Smith, Hanners (ex-Swan Dan Hannebery) is in there somewhere, kids are everywhere, parents everywhere, Plugger (Tony Lockett) was there with his daughter, Josh Kennedy’s boy Emilio was running around, he’s mad but a funny bugger, there were board members through to former players … it had everything.

“We’re eating pies and drinking Crownies and it was just fantastic. I got up and grabbed the phone and went bang with the camera. It’s one of my favourite footy photos of all-time. I’ve been tossing up whether to blow it up and put it somewhere at the club, in my office. You know what it shows … it shows a footy club.’’
Click to expand...

I can't heart-react that last paragraph enough.
 
I have said at times over the years that I thought he should of been more successful with the talented lists players that he had and shouldn’t have got extended but clearly I was wrong on the extension. S

Last night showed he is loved and listened too and our rebuilt is on track
 
Punts said:
I have said at times over the years that I thought he should of been more successful with the talented lists players that he had and shouldn’t have got extended but clearly I was wrong on the extension. S

Last night showed he is loved and listened too and our rebuilt is on track
Click to expand...

Him asking the club for help regarding tactics in the modern game (Don Pyke) was one of the biggest changes as well.

Acknowledged his methods were becoming stale and asked for help.
 
Heeney2Franklin said:
Him asking the club for help regarding tactics in the modern game (Don Pyke) was one of the biggest changes as well.

Acknowledged his methods were becoming stale and asked for help.
Click to expand...
Is that what i posted about 3 years ago and good on him for it . I'm really happy now he stayed and leant moving forward. I was so proud last night .
 
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